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Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Third Baseman By Age

The best way to analyze prospects is using their age in relation to the level they are playing at. Without taking too much of the level into account to start, I'll just be looking at age. I use a players age based on the date that MLB uses to define whether a player will be a draft eligible sophomore, because much of my analysis originates with a players drafted year. If a player is 26.01 on that date, he falls into the 26 year old age category. The age won't always match what is listed on Baseball Reference or FanGraphs but that is how I do it. If I don't have a players birthdate, I use the age listed on Baseball Reference.

The average time for a college third baseman to make it to the majors is 3.88 years. The average for a high school third baseman is 4.92 years. This time can be reduced if a player has a higher skill level. Elite players only take 2.9 years out of college and 3.92 out of high school. These are just averages. Third baseman are often impact bats that tend to move across the diamond at some point. They usually have the arm to move to RF and will move there if they are athletic.

Using stats from 2009-2013, here are the positional averages.

Position

G

AB

PA

H

2B

3B

HR

R

RBI

BB

SO

SB

CS

AVG

OBP

SLG

Elite 3B

156

602

674

174

36

2

25

89

95

61

114

9

4

0.289

0.355

0.480

3B

128

457

510

124

25

2

16

60

64

44

89

5

2

0.271

0.338

0.440

BACKUP 3B

47

120

132

28

6

1

3

13

14

9

29

1

1

0.233

0.290

0.383

This is to give perspective on how many MLB players come from each age group. I hope it shows how amazing even backup players are. You have to be a special player to make it to the majors and the best of the best to be good. Most ages only have 2 or 3 starter caliber players. It shows how much of a success it is for a team to develop a player to get them to the majors.